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overnor Fauzi Bowo said Friday that the administration would file an appeal after the Jakarta Administrative Court decided on Jan. 18 in favor of a developer to convert an unused Taman Ria amusement park into a shopping mall.

Fauzi, however, said that the House of Representatives, whose building was located adjacent to the plot of land, should also help the administration prevent the land conversion. “The city administration and the House of Representatives should work together to handle this problem. The House does not want the plot of land to be turned into a commercial area,” Fauzi said.

Taman Ria area was previously allocated for parliamentary purposes and is managed by the Bung Karno Sports Stadium management board.

The nearby House of Representatives had planned to annex the 11.2 hectare amusement park complex into its compound.

Developer PT Ariobimo Laguna Perkasa working with the Lippo group devised the plan to transform the Taman Ria complex into a shopping mall.

In August last year, the Jakarta Building Supervisory Agency stopped the construction of the mall and sealed the location soon after Fauzi approved the request, agency head Hari Sasongko said.

The agency had previously issued a preliminary permit to lay the mall’s foundations and measure the structural strength of the land, but had not issued a formal building permit. The construction company later filed a lawsuit against the stoppage and the sealing.

Senayan is now home to four shopping malls: Plaza Senayan, Senayan City, fX Plaza and Ratu Plaza.

The city and the House have agreed to transform Taman Ria into a green, open space, saying the city needed more parks to reduce the effects of pollution.

Ubaidillah, executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) Jakarta chapter, said that the city had to strive to keep the area from becoming commercial. “It is most important that the area become a green area. The city already has too many buildings,” he told The Jakarta Post.

He said that it was the administration’s obligation to provide green areas and reduce pollution for Jakarta residents.

Currently, only 9.8 percent of the city’s total area of 655 square kilometers is green. Jakarta failed to meet an earlier spatial planning target to reserve 13.9 percent of the city for green areas by the end of last year.